Hesychius of Alexandria

Hesychius of Alexandria

Hesychius of Alexandria (Ancient Greek: Ἡσύχιος ὁ Ἀλεξανδρεύς, romanized: Hēsýchios ho Alexandreús, lit. 'Hesychios the Alexandrian') was a Greek grammarian who, probably in the 5th or 6th century AD, compiled the richest lexicon of unusual and obscure Greek words that has survived, probably by absorbing the works of earlier lexicographers. The work, titled "Alphabetical Collection of All Words" (Συναγωγὴ Πασῶν Λέξεων κατὰ Στοιχεῖον, Synagōgē Pasōn Lexeōn kata Stoicheion), includes more than 50,000 entries, a copious list of peculiar words, forms and phrases, with an explanation of their meaning, and often with a reference to the author who used them or to the district of Greece where they were current. Hence, the book is of great value to the student of the Ancient Greek dialects and in the restoration of the text of the classical authors generally – particularly of such writers as Aeschylus and Theocritus, who used many unusual words. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Hesychius of Alexandria has received more than 139,002 page views. His biography is available in 23 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 22 in 2019). Hesychius of Alexandria is the 53rd most popular linguist (down from 47th in 2019), the 295th most popular biography from Egypt (down from 276th in 2019) and the most popular Egyptian Linguist.